I think it would depend on how much already known or speculated technology you use.  If it's going to be so far advanced that we haven't got anything even remotely like it, I would go with sci-fi.  Otherwise, if it stays within the realm of possibility, you could use the thriller category. 

Just my own observation here, but sci-fi (and in some respects fantasy) seems to be a pariah among genres these days.  It's far and few between to find agents or publishers willing to look at it.  Look at the works of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook.  I would often find their work under both genres at the bookstore.  Think of Terminal Man and Coma.  Depending on the slant you use, it can be either one, i.e. Capricorn One, Westworld, etc.

Synthetic bloods, skins, etc. were things Amgen et al were working on 20 years ago when I worked for them.  Lots of things previously considered sci-fi, are science and technology today.  Great leaps have been made in gill research as well as a synthetic underwater breathing apparatus.  Hover crafts are for sale by a Canadian company, but are being held back by the oil industry lobbyists from being sold in the U.S.  Basically, if you can think of it, it's probably already being studied or used somewhere, somehow.  If you can work this "reality" into it, you'd have a good thriller.

I think, if I remember right, wasn't Universal Soldier a bionic man as well?  I think Wolverine was also developed with the regenerating skin concept.  The Island used cloning concepts.  Robocop, Running Delilah, etc. all bionics or cyborg technology stories.  Yeah, it really has been used quite a bit. 

Here's a thought. What if you combined the basic concepts of Eagle Eye and Six Million Dollar Man?  The bionics are controlled by a self-learning computer with a conscience.  He becomes a reluctant hero driven by this computer until the computer starts to forget the human element in the 'rescues'.  That way it could be more a techno thriller than a sci-fi. If you want even more, you could add in the plot elements of Body Parts and the bionics were originally tested in condemned prisoner experiments and take on their "evil" essence.  Hehe, well, don't blame me.  I haven't had my morning coffee yet.

If you go sci-fi, you could use nanobots as a derma shield.

Well, don't know if any of this is helpful, but thought I'd throw it out for the heck of it.

Kydd

Sounds pretty plausible for a plot to me, Preacher.  If you haven't seen Body Parts, you should, just to get a general idea of what not to copy though.  It's not really that bad of a horror movie either.  Written by the guy who wrote Vertigo for Hitchcock, a very prolific B-movie horror writer over the years, Pierre Boileau.  Stars Jeff Fahey (real nice guy in person when I worked with him), Kim Delaney, Brad Dourif, and Paul Ben-Victor.  It's definitely a psychological thriller as well.  But it could help you consider some of the more desperate scenes of not knowing or understanding what's going on.  It mostly asks the question, where does evil reside and how is it manifested?  Very interesting to think about actually.

Kydd

Okay, but check out Johnny 2.0 and The Island first before you go the 'don't know he's a clone' route.  You might get some inspiration from these two.  I would add Virtuosity to the clone thing, but the film and plot were so bad, I don't think there's any worry there.  The only thing it had going for it was the two main stars, Russell Crowe (definitely a character even by the time I met him) and Denzel Washington.

Also for the 'computer virus in your bio-chip' aspect, check out Johnny Mnemonic (a Keanu Reeves film).  There's also the wonderful 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' [i.e. Bladerunner] for a bio-chip termination idea. (Of course, Logan's Run also used that concept.) I had the privilege of being on the set for Bladerunner.  That was fun.

In a slightly related way, I suppose I, Robot can join in your research.

Wow, such a sci-fi movie geek here!   So many movies and books, so little time.

Kydd

P.S. Charlie Roarke is also an actor.  The last movie I recall he was in was A History of Violence (that Viggo Mortenson movie disaster).

Perhaps Mr. Roarke is outfitted with Bionics and is, in fact, controlled by a computer implant. Mr. Roarke isn't alone. He is one of a special group of mercernary type soldiers that are hired out by a new tech-mercernary outfit like Blackwater. Roarke is controlled by the computer, it creates his memories as he sleeps and those memories are what has kept him under wraps. Maybe he lives in an undergound hive with the others and when he is there he is kept in a childlike state, much like the Dollhouse actives, and as this opens something has happened and Roarke becomes "aware" after committing a murder. He then tries to go back to the things his memories have told them only to find they don't exist and now not only does he struggle to find out who he is, he struggles to find out what he is.

Whatcha think?

Kydd, great thoughts and helpful hints again. One thing for sure, i will be doing watch of research with these movies. Universal Soldier was the Van Damne vehicle, Kurt Russell was just Soldier, two different movies, but 2 that i can watch again for my large research project. The everyman concept is definiteely the way to go because of the audience that i can try and capture. I think an ordinary guy, maybe someone who was a reporter. He will think, of course, he is something else as the computer has control of his memories but his sense of curiosity and the way he tackles the problem will lead him to realize what he really is and maybe the whole thing that got him turned into what he is startedm out as a story he was working on. SO he actually became the story and now he needs to see how his story ends.

Just more thoughts and thanks for keeping up on this and throwing out great research ideas for me. I appreciate it.

Hey Preacher, yep, I really like your new idea better!  I think that has real possibilities!!!

Kydd

Im thinking about the event that i need to spark this investigation and voyage of self discovery -could it be a murder? Maybe he snaps to life after killing someone? Or a little different -he watches the news and hears a story about a murder and has an item or a memory that lets him think he was there and as he goes to investigate a witness recoginzes him and calls the cops, causing him to go on the run and it turnss out that the person the computer had him kill happened to be the same person he, as a reporter, was going to do a story on?

How does that sound?

I agree with you suggestion a whole 110%. I can inhabit his world, show things about who he is and the build to the major stresser. I got to be such a slave to the notion that the first few sentences should be that initial bang that i sometimes forget there are other ways to do things, other way of building and ratcheting tension and then come down the middle with the heavy fastball.

thanks again, i need to brainstorm on this some and see what comes out of the hopper.